positve change

How I Found Connection – The Visionary Harp

March 6, 2019 By Cara Lumen

How I Found Connection – The Visionary Harp
An Inner World Exploration

It is rather tricky to be an 86-year old woman watching the world collapse around me and feel like I have the power to make a difference.

But I do have that power.

And you have that power.

Together we really have the power.

And, I have recently figured out how to increase our collective impact.

The Metaphor of the Harp

A shamanic journey is a meditation that provides us with metaphors in the form of helping spirits, animals, talking trees, reflecting pools that offer suggestions – all manner of metaphors that we are to interpret. It’s a message from our deepest inner self. We just have to learn to listen.

In a recent journey, I was handed a golden hand harp to play. And a golden feather pen which, as a writer, has been on my logo for 25 years.

And I got the message.

First, we learn to play our own instrument

So here I have this lovely golden harp which I really don’t know how to play. I simply begin. I pluck a string and see how it resonates. Then I pluck another string and see how it resonates with the first string. I may look around at other people playing harps and learn from them. I keep practicing and my playing improves.

The harp represents me as an individual in a body suit and the strings are my inner vibration – how I interact with the world. The music I make.

I begin my work there.

What is the sound I am making?

We have a choice of the type of music we play in our lives. Am I creating a soothing sound or a screeching one? Am I playing a rock tune or a symphony? What are my preferences? What are my gifts? What are my skills? What’s my passion? Those are the stings of my Visionary Harp, my “me” harp.

Practice to increase your skill

Our job in life is to develop our gifts. To hone our skills. To find our place of illumined service. Over the years you’ll develop several skills, just as your harp (which represents you) has various strings to be played at various times, in different rhythms and harmonies.

You’ll explore many types of music. Some you’ll play better than others. Some you’ll enjoy playing more than others. Find your preferences. Find your individual voice. Find the music of your soul.

It’s fine to sing your own song by yourself.

However, playing as part of a group is exceedingly empowering.

Look around for the orchestra you are to join

Now that we’ve figured out how to play our own tune, we want to participate in a larger venue. We want to help our community or the world. We look around for the other harpists who are focused on the type of music that calls to us. We join them. It can be a small ensemble or a full orchestra. Whatever fits your calling.

Your first step is to allow yourself to feel a part of this group you’ve chosen. Not to lose your individuality but to feel empowered by the mere act of belonging – the power of combined energies being able to create an experience that you alone cannot do.

The intertwining of your melodies and harmonies enhances each of your individual sounds as well as your final collective impact. It strengthens and supports you as a musician. Playing together creates a greater impact as you also support each other.

This was a huge realization for me. I work on the inner planes. It’s not that it’s lonely there, far from it, but I didn’t feel very powerful working to lift the vibration of our world by myself. It was then that I realized all I had to do was find the right orchestra and join it.

Now my focus is on keeping my instrument tuned and playing in harmony with others to create a greater whole.

You experience the feeling of inclusion

In my journeys, I have attracted what I call the Circle of Light Beings. They have made themselves known over a series of journeys and they have evolved as I got to know them. I see them as other light beings like myself, who are in deep service to the universe. In the beginning, they simply came and surrounded me to offer support. I still experienced myself as standing apart from the group. I was being helped and healed by them, but I was still separate from the them. I did not yet belong.

Holding myself apart has been a life long pattern. I do not know who was keeping us separate, but I lay odds it was me….!

The gift of the Golden Visionary Harp in my journey changed that, however. Although I hadn’t experienced this before, the Circle of Light Beings turned into an orchestra of Visionary Harp Players and I was now a member! I belonged!

I felt included. I felt part of a group working for the same goals. And I felt my individual impact greatly increase because I was now part of an active group and my voice was enhancing the power and purpose of the group voice.

Learn to play in harmony with other members of your light orchestra

When you join with other players you create a much larger sound. A much deeper sound. A much richer sound. Because each of you is playing his or her individual part with an open and generous heart.

In my journey, I asked if there was a leader, a conductor. And the answer was “No. You play by listening to each other.” Sometimes we play the melody, sometimes we play the rhythm, sometimes we simply deepen the overall sound. It depends on the song and the purpose of the composition. It depends on what is needed. We learn to be adaptable, to listen carefully to what is called for and then choose where we fit in.

Being a part of a light orchestra is exciting, empowering and amazing.

The collective passion is boundless

Every member of an orchestra is necessary. Each transformational thinker in the world is vital. As we each play our part with passion and commitment, the sound deepens and enriches and touches the hearts and lives of more people. Being in a “Light” orchestra is a very powerful way to feel and know and experience how your individual voice makes a major difference. How your individual participation adds greatly to the whole.

We can play our own instrument in harmony

As individual as is our instrument, as unique as is our sound, we must play our tones in harmony with the other instruments of the orchestra we have chosen to join. We learn to listen, to align with the overall goal and support it with our own voice and actions.

The major gift of playing your Visionary Harp in an orchestra is a feeling of belonging

For me, the greatest gift was to find other Visionary Harps, all playing in unison, all looking to raise the collective consciousness of our planet.

I am bolstered by the other light instruments focused on the same goal. I feel aligned with vibrational beings working to raise the collective consciousness. I feel I’ve finally found a place where I belong.

I’m no longer an old lady sitting alone, working on her spiritual practice and feeling isolated. I have found my orchestra and I have joined in!

Begin your own musical journey

See yourself as a stringed instrument that’s in the process of tuning yourself to play the sweetest music possible. Like heartstrings, perhaps.

Listen closely to each string and tune it so it is in alignment with the other strings of your life

Is there an out-of-tune string in your Visionary Harp that is you? Adjust it. Whether it’s a job or a relationship or your spiritual practice. You are the musician. And you are the instrument. Tune your strings so they play in harmony with each other.

What kind of music do you want to play?

I’m deep into shamanic exploration music, and spiritual exploration music. What kind of music do you want to play on your Visionary Harp that is You?

Find others who are playing your kind of music

I am a perennial student and online learning makes it easy for me to “tune my strings” with a teacher that calls to me. I play in that orchestra for a while.

I have a Skype friend I talk to weekly who shares a similar path. We inspire and encourage each other. We are an orchestra of two.

I explore the unseen world and I write and journey. That seems to be the major orchestra of Helping Spirits that I’m playing in who support me in bringing my ideas into forms to share with others here on the planet.

There are ideas everywhere. Online is a huge resource. You simply have to decide what orchestra you want to play in and how you want your harp to be tuned. Then tune it. And start playing…!

Join those that resonate with you to create a larger impact

Now that I feel I am an active participating member of the Circle of Light Beings (all within my inner world) I feel empowered by their presence and positive that our collective focus can indeed help lift the vibration and therefore the future of our planet. I’m no longer alone – I’m in a collective group of higher consciousness that’s focused on the higher good.

That’s how you become a Visionary Harp.

Deeper Song Process

Give some thought to the various strings of your “harp”. Are they in tune with each other? Do they play well together? Is your tone balanced? Work to learn to play your individual harp well.
What type of music do you want to play? It will be a calling of your heart, a cause that you care about.

In your inner world, feel the vibration of the “orchestra” you want to join. Feel it empowering your own intentions. Raising your own vibration.

When you find the right orchestra in your inner (or outer) world, join it and make your Visionary Harp a valuable contributor.

Deeper Song Affirmation

I am a member of the Inner Light Visionary Orchestra.

To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider:

When I See Myself As Light

How to Interpret the Messages Within

Do You See and Hear and Walk in a Sacred Manner?

Journey of a Spiritual Heart

Expand Your Spiritual Heart

Unleash the power of your Sacred Garden

Life Messages from a Potter

To receive our weekly
Deeper Song Insights and Applications

join the Deeper Song Community.

Messages from a Snowfall

February 13, 2019 By Cara Lumen

Messages from a Snowfall
An Inner-world Exploration

The snow fell thick and heavy and wet and built up on the branches of the trees, bending them into positions of servitude they had never before experienced. They whispered – “Learn this lesson, when it feels heavy, bend. When it melts it nourishes the roots.”

The world was different. Each branch of every tree I could see bent under the weight. It was magical, the ice glimmered in the sunlight and the world was transformed.

It was a beautiful snow, thick and silent and glistening. It was a heavy wet snow. It built up on everything. My empty flower pots looked like they were topped with frothy white layers of whipped cream snow. The sun behind the clouds caused the whole world to look like a fairyland. It glistened. It sparkled. It sat silently in its breathtaking beauty.

The lesson of the heavy snow

I looked for the lesson in the snow – the heavy snow that made everything bend and simply wait patiently for change to gradually come. Sometimes life is like that, it gets heavy and we feel bent over. And all we can do is wait patiently for change. The tree branch bends gracefully. I wonder if I bend as gracefully when the load seems heavy.

There is nourishment in change

As I looked at the heavy snow, I knew that it carried the water that was so welcome in the earth and eventually, one small released drop at a time, it would nourish and nurture where it was needed.

Do I give time and space in my life for events and circumstances to nurture me?

There’s stillness in change

There’s a serene stillness in this glistening world of snow-bent branches. No place to go. Nothing to do. Simply sit there in beauty and with for change to gradually occur.

There’s a leveling that takes place. Everything looks the same – white. Just as we are the same. No differences. Simply nature in a blanket of white so there’s no longer a notable difference. There’s a lesson there. We get lost in how we look on the outside. When we know ourselves as light, we sit in the stillness of a quiet moment of simply being present and experience the oneness of all of nature.

There’s cleansing in change

There’s cleansing in the snow. When it melts it’ll wash away what’s no longer needed. We must be ready to make room for and accept the fresh new beginning that comes when the storm passes.

There are lessons in change

The trees have to adapt to the heavy snow by bending and changing form. The earth, although frozen hard now, will need to thaw and absorb what is offered. Eventually, the roots in the ground will be nourished and in turn, support the tree in growing taller and broader.

But all in good time. All when the cycle moves forward.

Change is like that – unfolding stages Always in a cycle of beginning, middle or end. We have much to learn from nature.

Allow yourself to absorb the change

If I were a tree, I’d bend with the unfolding change. If I were the ground, I’d wait until it was time to absorb the change. If I were an animal, I’d burrow in the proffered change and wait for the warmth to return.

Be like snow – fall softly and cover everything

Feel the stillness. The peace. The simple act of being present calls deeply to me. Perhaps I can learn to live like snow, resting patiently on a branch, waiting for the sun to help me change form so I can move to another level of my calling.

Patience and a willingness to change. I can do that.

And that’s the message I received from a beautiful, very wet heavy snow.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS:

In a quiet place, feel yourself as a snowflake, forming in the sky, falling gently to earth to land.

Notice where you land. You look around and there are many of you – many snowflakes, many points of light covering the world so that what’s underneath is hidden and our wholeness begins to be more evident – covering our world, our earth.

Be with that. Feel yourself being included in and absorbed into a greater whole – a whole with great power to make change.

When you’re ready, allow yourself to melt, to change form, to move on to the work you’re called to do, taking with you the stillness and peace and oneness that you felt when you were simply snow.

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider:

Can You Let Your Life Unfold?

Do Not Conform to the Ways of the World

When I See Myself As Light

Life Messages from a Potter

The Power of Non-doing

Do Not Conform to the Ways of the World

January 23, 2019 By Cara Lumen

Do Not Conform to the Ways of the World
An Inner World Exploration

We are so much more than our body suit. That is why we must not conform to the ways of the world. It’s too limiting. We have to honor our vibrations of wholeness, listen to our unique calling and stand up tall in our own light, taking the actions we’re called to take by our gifts and passion.

Only we can do that for ourselves.

We are to evolve consciously – purposefully – actively

Each day, in every choice, in every action, in every thought, you need to celebrate your uniqueness, your individuality, and you have to have the inner belief that you are uniquely distinctive and are to serve in a uniquely distinctive manner.

It means you are not to conform to the world around you. You are not to be like everyone else. You are to be self-aware and conscious of the personalized nudges and unique opportunities given you by your inner self. You listen. You heed. You step out into the world as your own unique light.

Join with similar uniqueness

The more deeply you cultivate and honor your distinctive calling, the fewer fellow travelers you’ll find on your particular path.

However, when you take your individual, unique distinctive light out into the world, you’ll find other aware lights shining in their individual uniqueness. You join together and your combined vibrations make major changes in the world – for the well-being of all.

Don’t conform to the ways of the world

Don’t limit yourself to our body suit ways.

This doesn’t mean you have to rebel, but you can quietly and calmly disengage from what’s not aligned with your awareness of your collective oneness and move along the specific path that calls to you.

The more individualized your path, the more closely you’ll have to look to find fellow light travelers going in a similar direction. Walk with who shows up and see where it takes you both.

We’re not our body suits. We are light – the whole, complete vibration of light and that means that so much more is possible than we can imagine from our body suits.

How do you step away from the ways of the world?

Do not allow yourself to become simply part of the herd, a lump in the collective human race. You are beyond that. You are aware of yourself as light. Be aware of your own uniqueness. Notice what gifts you have been given, what passions are calling you, and where circumstances have placed you.

Raise your sights. Examine each opportunity as a gift and gauge the degree of its calling and its potential to help you create change – for yourself – for others. Then follow your heart and step into the place of service that calls to you.

Live your life however you have agreed to do it. Show up however you need to. Just keep coming from your spiritual heart, your inner self and you’ll never conform to the ways of the world.

Deeper Song Process:

Deepen your awareness of yourself as the vibration of light.
See who else around you seems to be aware of the same thing.
Hang out with them.

To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider:

Know the Power of Our One Light

Who Needs to Give You Permission?

What Are Your Weaving in Your Reality?

Expand Your Spiritual Heart

The Power of Being Different

Can You Let Your Life Unfold?

January 16, 2019 By Cara Lumen

Can You Let Your Life Unfold?
An Inner-world Exploration

Periodically during the year, we make grand plans. Sometimes it’s because there’s a new year beginning, sometimes it’s a new quarter, or a new month or even just one week at a time.

The most productive, aligned way to manage your life is to simply to let it unfold. See what shows up, check it out in the moment and decide if this is the time to explore and develop that idea.

Otherwise we run the risk of being overwhelmed.

It helps to follow the seasons

There’s an unfolding flow in nature that we would do well to align ourselves with.

Winter: Contemplate and explore the possibilities in the seed catalog. Close what to plant.

Choose only the things you really want to do and the things you realistically can accomplish. How many plants can you grow in your personal garden of self?

I’m exploring new ideas and they’re currently in sort of a book format because that’s how I’m organizing my own learning process. However, the idea of working on a book while doing all this inner exploration/discovery work is overwhelming.

So, since it’s winter, I’ll contemplate the choices and experiences before me and go exploring to better understand what I’m being called to do. I place my order from the idea seed catalogue. That’s all I do – choose my priorities.

I may have different criteria for my choices – income, most effective use of time, greatest impact, easiest to do. A full seed catalog can be tempting. Do a reality check before you place your order.

Spring: Choose how many seeds you will plant based on what you can realistically care for, want to harvest and how much is needed.

After choosing what we want to plant, we have to do a reality check on how much we can physically and emotionally care for. How big is the garden plot (your available time). We have to prepare the ground. What skills and equipment or help do you need to produce this crop? Then you have to decide how much to plant based on how much you can care for and harvest and, better yet, use.

These are the decisions of spring. How much to plant. Where to plant. And make certain not to overprint or underplant. Give careful thought to what you actually need to produce.

I seem to have a second book that’s much closer to completion than this one I am creating from my new work. Hmmm. Can I harvest two crops? Oh yes, and there’s a niggle that I might record some guided meditations. Be careful here that you don’t choose too much to plant because there’s a lot of work to be done in the cultivation and care and bringing to harvest of whatever you choose.

Summer: Do the work

This is the part I love – the growth and development of an idea. The unfolding of a book. It’s a time for deep creativity and introspection as I pull together all I have learned in a form that others can understand. I put what I’ve been learning into a form I can share that will help others move along a similar path.

What will be required of you to tend the crops you have chosen to plant? Can you bring the crop safely to harvest?

Fall – Harvest what you sowed

I dread this part. We are talking technical stuff. Not hard, I just don’t do it very often. Get the book out the door stuff. But if that’s all I do for the fall – complete and publish – that doesn’t feel so daunting.

See how working in seasons makes the task less daunting?

There’s another step here I tend to not do well – let others know what I’ve created. So perhaps I can devise practical and realistic ways to do that.

If you found a stumbling block in your projected harvest, what solutions can you explore and what choices can you make earlier in the year to help you move through this challenge?

Completion time is made for giving gratitude for the gifts you have harvested and been encouraged to give.

Fall is also the time to notice what your work produces. What is popular and what is not? What did you run out of? It’s time to evaluate what action has called to you the most. Where did you receive the most satisfaction? What was the easiest part to do? Then set those ideas aside to be contemplated in the planning that takes place in the winter cycle.

Do your inner work

Before you begin a new cycle, do your inner work. What new skills did you develop? What do you want to do more of? Less of? What are the needs of the people you serve? How has the world changed? What is needed that you could provide?

What has changed in you and how will you honor that?

Then it’s time to begin the cycle again.

Deeper Song Process:

Write down what you would like to accomplish in the next year, quarter, month, whatever you choose.
Put a mark by the one accomplishment that would be the easiest to do.
Put a different mark by the one that would make your heart sing.
Use a different mark to identify the action that would bring in the most income, or whatever value you are working to achieve (personal growth, relationships, etc)
Choose one project that you marketed and apply the seasonal steps to it.
Winter – Contemplate the future possibilities. Order seeds.
Spring – Plant what you can care for and harvest.
Summer – Produce. Do the work. Get help if you need to.
Fall – Take your harvest to market and see how it’s received.
Repeat each season.